Song School Spanish Review

Spanish is a language I have been infrequently exposed to throughout my life, due to my dad, brothers, and husband working with many Spanish speaking people. Because of this exposure, I have picked up a few words, as have my children. My husband knows a few dozen or so Spanish words, but he often expresses his desire to truly learn Spanish and to have our children learn Spanish. I knew when Song School Spanish by Classical Academic Press came up for review, that my husband would want me to take advantage of the opportunity to teach our kids Spanish!

I received a Teacher’s Edition and a student workbook -meant to be used with K through 2nd grades-which includes a fun CD with 44 different songs/chants to help the child learn the proper pronunciation of each word/phrase introduced throughout the workbook. The Teacher’s Edition has every page that the student workbook has, plus the answers and additional info and tips. It has the Spanish alphabet at the beginning of each book, which explains how there are 3 more letters in the Spanish alphabet than the English alphabet. It also has the way to pronounce the letters, in plain English. You are expected to complete one chapter per week (an average of 5 pages per chapter) and there is usually some sort of activity/project to do with each chapter as well. There is also a list of additional resources included in the “Introduction to the Teacher’s Edition” which includes an online game to practice, Spanish Amigo Match cards, and Spanish pronunciation files/extra songs which are a MP3 download available through their website.

I have been doing this with Josiah (8 this month) and we spend about 15 minutes three times a week on the workbook (the projects take additional time, depending on each project), and we listen to the CD on lesson days as well as almost every other day of the week (it is suggested that the CD be listened to often throughout the week– my kids do so willingly). We are introduced to a handful of new words and/or phrases each week. There are specific songs/chants that go with each chapter, which is helpful to hear them pronounced properly and to remember the week’s lesson.

For the most part, Josiah is excited to do his Spanish lesson, though he isn’t especially thrilled with the writing that is involved, simply because he is going through an “I hate writing!” phase. I have not been pushing him in writing, but have had him do most of it in Spanish since it is simple enough. Much of it is just tracing. On the other hand, Josiah loves the projects! For the first lesson, he cut out little puppets of Tortuga and Conejo (tortoise and hare) and put on a puppet show about the slow tortoise and fast hare who raced each other… the traditional story with a Spanish flare! I videoed his show and he thought it was great fun!

Overall, it has been fun for our whole family. Dad has been getting involved some in the evenings, when time permits, especially helping with pronunciation. I am horrible about pronouncing the words correctly (I just can’t get my tongue to move right), so I’m really glad they include detailed instructions, the CD, and the free MP3 download to help with that! I do wish that some of the chants (the alphabet, for example) were not done so quickly since we get lost after the first several letters and can not catch all of the sounds. Josiah catches on very quickly to anything that he finds an interest in, and so has done quite well with this curriculum. It is simple enough that he can almost teach himself. Hadassah and Marcus (ages 4 & 3) are picking up quite a few more Spanish words as well and have been following along in our lessons. We have enjoyed it!

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this product through the Schoolhouse Review Crew in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.